Why the changes?

For about three decades now, Hutton-Loyd Tree Farm has been the setting for many a holiday tradition. Some families have come every year since we opened to search for the perfect tree, making lasting holiday memories in the process. Of course, it’s a tradition for our own family too. Through countless weekends spent together selling trees and planting new ones, the farm shaped our childhoods.

Eventually we Loyd children grew to adults and our lives scattered us. Haley moved near Morehead and made the farm a permanent fixture in her life. Tara and Parke lived in distant states and sometimes other countries. Yet the farm has continued to play a role in all of our adult lives. We have been back to see family, run races, and throw weddings. And our memories from the farm have followed us everywhere we have gone.

So, when our dad, Herb Loyd, began to talk about retirement, we wondered: could we let the Christmas tree business go? Last year, Tara and Parke traveled home and joined Herb and Haley at the farm over Thanksgiving so we could all remind ourselves what it is like to run the Christmas tree business together for a weekend. The familiar faces and familiar feelings made it clear: we can’t let this business go without a fight. The togetherness the farm brings our family, and so many other families that buy trees from us, is too special.

Thus, Tara, Haley, and Parke will be picking up the torch to carry on the business. But we face a challenge: the farm has never made a profit. Herb always made up the deficit himself from his own earnings as an emergency room doctor. We, his children will not have that luxury. None of us have chosen careers so highly paid.

To make continuing the business possible without burdening ourselves with debt, we’re moving to a family-only business model. This means that our families will provide nearly all the labor to keep the Christmas tree business afloat. We will plant, care for, and sell the trees all ourselves. But to do this, we have to simplify the business. We each have lives filled with jobs, childcare, and hobbies of our own, and free time is hard to come by. To make things simpler, we are going to confine the business to only Christmas trees. This means we have to abandon the wreaths, swags, and garland, products that were extremely labor intensive to produce.

Although we know this will inconvenience some customers, our hope is that these changes will allow the farm to continue to grow as a true family business, so that families can keeping coming to make memories there together for decades to come. How could we keep such a beautiful land that has provided us with so many positive experiences just to ourselves? And what better way for us, the Loyd children, to bring our families together than by working side-by-side to grow trees and grow a business? So come out to the farm to get your tree and help us make this happen. And tell your friends. We’re sorry we won’t have any wreaths, garland, or swags to sell to you anymore, but we will still have plenty of trees, plenty of laughs, and plenty of memories. See you out there!